I Know Why You're On This Page.

One late night, worn out, I heard the song "Cat's in the Cradle." If you know it, you know - it's about a dad who keeps saying "we'll get together soon, son," until one day the son is grown and it's too late.

That song wrecked me. R'Achelle and I were raising kids I barely had the margin to enjoy. And I realized that if nothing changed, I was going to win at business and lose at everything that actually mattered.

So I made a decision that night: I was going to build a team. I had no idea how. But I told myself - and I believe God heard it too - "I'm going to figure this out. Nobody needs to go through this. And when I do figure it out, I'm going to teach it, and I'm going to rescue other guys from this same trap."

That vow is why this page exists.

Here's the honest truth: it didn't turn around overnight. It took years, and I got a lot of it wrong first.

I had to grow before my company could. I'd never finished a book cover to cover in high school - and suddenly I was devouring leadership books in the bleachers at my daughters' cheer competitions, taking notes, building action plans, trying everything.

But when I brought that vision back to my team, they didn't want it. They were hard workers - but they didn't want to grow. And that's when it hit me: the problem wasn't them. It was me.

My vision had been "let's be the best and make good money," and I got exactly the team that vision attracted.

Rebuilding a leadership team is painful. I did it one hard conversation at a time. And I believe God didn't send me the right people - leaders like Joe and Jennifer, who are still with me today - until He'd finished doing some work in me first.

That's the part most coaching programs skip. I lived it. Every bit of it.

Today, Phillips Home Improvements is one of the most awarded home improvement companies in Texas - and it runs without me in the middle of it. My son Josiah leads day-to-day operations as COO. The team leads the team. The business funds our life and our mission instead of consuming them.

In 2023, the U.S. Small Business Administration named me DFW Small Business Person of the Year. Not bad for a guy who used to be trapped on a hamster wheel.

That's what I call a freedom machine: a business that supports your life instead of draining it.

And once I had one, I couldn't un-know how to build one. Contractors kept pulling me aside at events asking, "Jason, how did you do it?" I remembered the 2 a.m. version of me - the guy on the hamster wheel who would have given anything for a straight answer from someone a few steps ahead.

Contractor Freedom is me keeping the promise I made that night.